This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify certain children for free school meals without the need for household applications. The 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) Reauthorization Act requires all LEAs to establish, by school year (SY) 2008-2009, a system of direct certification of children from households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP--formerly Food Stamp Program) benefits. The mandate was phased in over 3 years. The largest LEAs were required to establish direct certification systems by SY 2006-2007; all were required to directly certify SNAP participants by SY 2008-2009. Seventy-eight percent of all LEAs directly certified some SNAP participants in SY 2008-2009. These LEAs enroll 96 percent of all students in schools that participate in the NSLP. This is an increase from SY 2004-2005, when 56 percent of LEAs, enrolling 79 percent of all students in NSLP schools, directly certified SNAP-participant students. The percentage of SNAP-participant children who were directly certified for free school meals in SY 2008-2009 varied greatly among the States. The States with the highest rates were able to directly certify all or nearly all SNAP-participant children. The least successful States certified no more than 50 percent of those children. Half of all States were able to directly certify at least 72 percent of school-age SNAP participants. The comparable median direct certification rate for SY 2007-2008 was 69 percent. Four appendices are included: (1) Additional Tables; (2) Verification Summary Report; (3) Estimation of Component Statistics; and (4) Data Limitations. (Contains 11 tables, 12 figures and 58 footnotes.) [This report was produced by the Office of Research and Analysis, Food and Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).]